The Next Chapter
by Zanessalover576
Summary: Sequel to "The Bolton Family".
1. Graduation

An 18 year old, Melissa walked through her room getting ready. Her life as a legal adult was just beginning. Today, Melissa would be graduating from East High School (do not own) and going on to bigger and better things in college. She had been accepted to Stanford, Berkeley, Brown, and Harvard University; but the one she picked was Berkeley. Not only was it her father's alma mater, but it was close to home just like her family had wanted her to be. Melissa got her cap and gown on and walked into the kitchen where her family was waiting for her.

"Hello, family" Melissa said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Mel!" Lily said as she ran over to her sister and hugged her.

Lily Bolton was the charmer of the family. Her long sandy blonde hair was the same as her father's. But, her facial features were a mere image of Gabriella. Lily was going to be a freshman at East High in the fall, and hoping to follow in her older sister's footsteps. Melissa and Lily were each other's best friend. They did everything together and they were going to find it hard when Melissa has to leave for college but they both promised each other to stay in touch and tell each other about their lives as a high school and college student.

"Okay girls, let me see my graduate" Gabriella said as she hugged Mel.

"You look beautiful, Mel" Troy said sincerely as he took pictures of her, Lily and Gabriella.

"Thanks Dad" Melissa said as she hugged him tightly.

"We better get going if we are going to get good seats" Gabriella said.

The four Bolton's piled into the car and drove to East High. They parked the car and walked to the auditorium. Lily and Mel held hands as they walked to drop Mel off to get in line. Melissa got to the top of the auditorium steps when she saw Brandon, her boyfriend of a year and a half. Gabriella had to force Troy to let her date when she hit 16. Brandon was also going to Berkeley, which made Melissa very happy.

Melissa walked over to Brandon "Hey babe" she said.

"Hey" Brandon said kissing her on the lips.

"Ready to be an official high school graduate?" Melissa asked.

"Mel, you and I have know we have waited for this day for 2 months" Brandon said as they held hands and found their seats.

"True. I mean, it just set in for me that we are actually done, and now we can start our lives as adults" Mel said. She played with the ring that Brandon had given her on their anniversary.

"I love you" Brandon said.

"I love you too" Melissa said as she kissed him again.

The graduation ceremony began with the principal saying welcoming remarks and that he's proud of how the graduating class had worked the last four years. Finally the diplomas were being handed out. Principal Matsui called the names in alphabetical order.

"Melissa Bolton. Studying Pre-law at Berkeley University and graduating with honors in science" Principal Matsui said. Melissa heard her family cheering for her and she smiled when she walked down the stage stairs.

After the ceremony, The Bolton's were going to have dinner with Brandon's family at their home. Lily got out of the car and went up to her sister.

"Congrats, Graduates!" Lily said to Melissa and Brandon.

Melissa hugged her sister tightly, knowing her leaving was going to be the hardest thing that she was ever going to have to do. Lily moved to Brandon and hugged him. Brandon had become a brother to Lily. She always knew she could trust him and go to him if her sister wasn't there or talk to him about things that she didn't want Melissa to know.

"Come on, let's go out to the backyard" Lily said.

They all walked to the backyard that they grew up in. They sat down at the table and started talking about college.

"So you guys excited about Berkeley?" Brandon's mother, Sarah asked.

"More than excited, we have been waiting for this, for months" Brandon said squeezing Melissa's hand and kissing her cheek.

"It's just going to be hard to leave our families" Melissa thought out loud.

" Yeah, that one's a major issue" Lily said.

They all talked for a while and ate dinner together. Melissa and Brandon went up to Melissa's room. Brandon walked into her room and looked at all the pictures of them on her wall. Melissa stood in back of her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his torso, kissing hs back gently.

"I love you" Melissa said.

"I love you too" Brandon said kissing her hard. Mel wrapped her arms around Brandon's neck and fell into the kiss. They pulled back and rested their foreheads against each others.

They both talked about everything until their parents came in and said they had to leave. They kissed on last time and left each other.


	2. Harder Said Than Done

The next few weeks had been hard on Melissa and Lily. Melissa had been packing for college and getting ready to leave her family. Brandon had been coming over every day to help her. Melissa and Lily hadn't really talked to each other since Melissa's graduation. Lily walked into the kitchen and opened a cupboard and slammed it shut. She walked over to the pantry and got her favorite cereal and sat down. Gabriella looked at her confused.

"What's the matter, Lily?" Gabriella asked her youngest daughter.

"Nothing" Lily said.

"Come on, there is something upsetting you. What's going on?" Gabriella asked.

"I said nothing! Gosh, can't everyone just leave me alone!" Lily yelled.

Lily got up and went to her bedroom and slammed the door. Troy came into the kitchen and kissed Gabriella.

"What was that about?" Troy asked.

"I don't know. She's been acting like that for two weeks, Troy" Gabriella said.

"I think that she is upset that Mel is leaving" Troy said.

"Yeah. That's probably it. The two of them should probably talk about this" Gabriella said.

Gabriella walked to her eldest daughter's room.

"Hi, how's the packing going?" Gabriella asked.

"It's going okay. There is a lot of stuff" Melissa said wiping the stray hairs away from her face.

"What's up?" Melissa asked.

"I was thinking if you would talk to your sister. She seems really upset about you leaving and maybe you guys can sort through some stuff" Gabriella said.

"Sure. Lil has been acting a little weird lately. I know that me leaving is probably why" Melissa agreed.

Gabriella walked out of Melissa's room. Mel walked to Lily's room and knocked on the door.

"Lily? It's Mel. Can you open the door?" Melissa asked.

Lily opened the door and Melissa walked in and sat on her bed.

What's going on, Lil? Talk to me" Melissa said.

"I don't want you to go" Lily said tearfully.

"Lily, I know it will be hard for me to leave, but I will come back on the weekends and I have long breaks for holidays so we will have a lot of time together when I am home. It's going to be hard for me to live without my best friend too, but there's always texting, phone calls, emails, and visits. I will only be an hour away" Melissa explained.

Lily's head was in her hands. She was sobbing her heart out. She was only 14 and felt like her heart had broken into a million pieces. Melissa went over to her and hugged her and let her cry.

"Your going to forget about me" Lily cried.

"I am never, and I repeat, never going to forget about you, Lils. I already miss you and I haven't even left yet" Melissa said.

The two sisters talked for a little while longer. Melissa went into the kitchen where she was met by her parents.

"So what's going on?" Gabriella asked.

"She doesn't want me to leave and she thinks I am going to forget about her. Which I said that it would never happen" Melissa told her mother.

"Give her time, Mel. She will come around and be happy. You are leaving soon and she is just upset, its perfectly normal" Gabriella said.

"I am going to pack more boxes" Melissa said as she disappeared into her room.

Troy came into Melissa's room.

"What was going on with Lily?" Troy asked.

"She doesn't want me to leave because she thinks I will forget about her" Melissa explained to her father.

"She's 14, Mel. She will be fine, don't worry" Troy said. He went over to her and kissed her head.

"I love you" Troy said.

"I love you too" Melissa told her father.

Melissa went to sleep that night, knowing that it was going to be harder to leave her family, especially her sister than she thought.


	3. She's gone

The next morning, Lily woke up at the crack of dawn. She quietly walked into her sister's room and opened her covers and scooted into her bed with her. Today was going to be the hardest day for them that they had ever faced. It was the day that Melissa was moving to Berkeley. Lily snuggled into Melissa's embrace.

"Lily?" Melissa asked her sister as she looked at her sister snuggled into her chest.

"Yes?" Lily asked.

"Today's going to be hard on you isn't it?" Melissa asked.

"You got that right. The hardest day in my entire life is today" Lily said.

"Come on, we better start loading the car with my stuff" Melissa said.

The two sisters got up and started loading the car. They finished 45 minutes later and went back into the house.

"You ready to go, Mel?" Troy asked.

Melissa nodded and they all got into the car. The drive to Berkeley was short. They pulled up at Melissa's dorm and started unloading her stuff into her room. They finished and it was getting harder to say goodbye than the sisters realized.

"We should probably get going, need to beat the traffic" Troy said.

Troy hugged Melissa tightly and Gabriella did the same. When Melissa looked at Lily, she knew that this was going to be very difficult.

"Bye, Lils" Melissa said tearfully.

"Bye, Mel" Lily said tears running down her face.

The two sisters hugged and they left the dorm silently. As soon, as her family closed the door, Melissa burst into tears. She didn't know the level of difficulty it took to say goodbye to her family and best friend was so hard. Melissa's cell phone started ringing and the caller ID said Brandon so she picked up.

"Hey" Melissa said quietly.

"Hey beautiful, are you okay?" Brandon asked.

"I just said goodbye to my family. It was hard" Melissa explained.

"Oh, I know it's hard baby, but you will get used to it. Want to meet up? Where are you?" Brandon asked.

"I am in my dorm" Melissa said simply.

"I am coming, I will be there in 5 minutes" Brandon said.

They both hung up and sure enough 5 minutes later Brandon knocked on the door. Melissa opened the door and flung herself into her boyfriend's arms. Melissa started bawling her eyes out into Brandon's shirt.

"Baby, I am here. It's okay" Brandon said as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"It was the hardest leaving Lily. I feel like I am going to die without her" Melissa said sniffling.

"I know, Mel but it will get better, I promise. By the weekend, you won't want to leave" Brandon reassured her.

Melissa hugged Brandon and kissed his lips.

"I love you" Melissa said.

"I love you too" Brandon said capturing her into another kiss.

At the Bolton House, it was silent. Troy, Gabriella, and Lily got home and went into the kitchen. Lily said that she didn't want anything so she went to her bedroom. On the way, however, she stopped at her sister's room.

"I know it's hard, Lily. She will be back this weekend though" Gabriella said to her youngest daughter.

The Bolton's had to learn to live with the absence of Melissa.


	4. Meeting Jess and Dorms

Mel walked around and inspected her dorm. She had a bathroom that was much larger than the one she had at home and a closet that was slightly bigger. She heard a knock on the door. Melissa walked to the door and opened it.

"Hi, I am your roommate. I'm Jessica, but you can call me Jess" Jessica said as she carried in her suitcases.

"I'm Melissa. People call me Mel though" Melissa said.

"Do you want to unpack stuff?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. Let's get started" Melissa said.

The two girls started unpacking their clothes first.

"So Mel, How where are you from?" Jess asked.

"I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. How about you?" Melissa asked.

"I am from Los Angeles. What are you majoring in?" Jess asked.

"I'm majoring in Pre-law" Melissa said.

"That's cool! I am majoring in Biology" Jess said.

"That's awesome" Melissa said.

They finished unpacking their stuff and both fell onto their beds, exhausted. Melissa looked at the pictures of her family that were on the board above her bed and tried not to cry. Before she was about to, there was a knock on the door. Jess went to the door and answered it.

"Hey, is Mel here?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah, she's here. I am Jess by the way, her roommate" Jess said as Brandon shook her hand.

"I'm Brandon, her boyfriend. Nice to meet you" Brandon said as he stepped into the dorm.

Jess and Brandon walked to Mel's bed. Brandon sat on the edge of her bed and kissed her head.

"Can you give us a minute?" Brandon asked Jess.

Jess walked out of the room to let the couple have their space.

"Baby, how are you feeling?" Brandon asked.

"I was perfectly fine, until the pictures went up" Melissa said.

"Well at least your feeling a little better than before" Brandon said wiping the hair away from her face.

"Yeah. I mean, I am sure I will be fine a day or two. Do you mind if I call Lily?" Melissa asked.

"Go ahead" Brandon said kissing her lips.

Melissa took out her phone and dialed the familiar number and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" Lily asked.

"It's me" Melissa said.

"How's college?" Lily asked.

"It's difficult, Brandon's been hanging around. How are you, Lils?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, well I cried myself to sleep last night. Then, in the middle of the night, I went and slept in your bed, because I miss you"Lily said.

Melissa smiled "I love you, Lily" she said.

"I love you, Mel" Lily said.

The sisters hung up and Melissa looked at Brandon.

"What did she say?" Brandon asked.

"She said she misses me" Melissa said laying her head against Brandon's chest.

Brandon hugged Melissa and kissed her. Melissa snuggled up in his arms.

"I love you" Melissa said.

"I love you too, baby" Brandon said.

Brandon and Mel talked for a little while longer until Brandon said he needed to go. They kissed each other goodbye and Mel closed the door.

"Mel, do you wanna go get dinner?" Jess asked.

"Sure. Let me go get my bag" Melissa said.

The first day at Berkeley was tough on Mel but she knew she was going to get used to it. Her family was her world and wanted the best for her.


	5. Going through the Motions

The next morning was the first day of classes. Mel's alarm went off at 7 AM and she slapped the snooze button. Mel got up and walked to the closet and got her clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Twenty-five minutes later, Melissa came out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed and awake. She went over to her bed and quietly, trying not to wake up Jess, got her books and left the dorm.

Mel walked out of the building and followed the map she was given when she arrived to her first class. She found room 307 and opened the door and walked in. Mel read her schedule to see which class she was in again, it was Legal Regulations. Melissa put her schedule in her pocket.

"Good Morning, everybody. Take your seats. I am Professor Sandra Ward. I have been teaching at Berkeley for 15 years and I will be teaching you the laws of everything you will need to become an aspiring lawyer. One thing that I must make clear though, if you don't come prepared to my class, you might as well, drop out. I teach quick and expect you to learn the material. Your first assignment is going to be a reading in your book, I want you to read pages 1-150 and take notes as you read, that will be due tomorrow. I expect every one of you to complete this simple task" Professor Ward explained.

The period was over and Mel walked out of class and went to her dorm. She took out her keys and unlocked her door and walked in. Melissa saw Jess getting ready for her morning class and smiled at her.

"Hey, how was your class?" Jess asked anxiously.

"It was good. My professor, sounds really hardcore though" Mel said.

"Oh, aren't they all? I got to go but I will be back in about an hour and we will go hang out" Jess said as she left.

Mel walked over to her bed and picked up her phone. She dialed her familiar home number and was waiting for somebody to pick up.

"Hello?" Troy asked.

"Hi dad, it's Mel" Melissa told her father.

"Hey, how's college? How are your classes?" Troy asked a mile a minute.

"College is good. I just came back from my first class. I had Legal Regulations and have a hardcore teacher" Melissa explained to her father.

"Oh, it will get better. The work is a lot, but it's worth it in the end" Troy said.

"Yeah, anyway, I just wanted to call and say I was alive and tell you how my class went. I will see you in 3 days" Melissa said.

"Looking forward to it, I love you" Troy said.

"I love you too, tell everyone I say hello" Melissa said.

They hung up and Melissa went to her bed and started her Legal Regulations reading and notes. She felt better about being at college. Unfortunatley her phone rang an hour into her reading. She picked up her phone.

"Hello?" Melissa answered.

"Hey, baby. Why so angry?" Brandon asked.

"I was doing homework that's due tomorrow and it's a lot of reading and I was in the middle of it" Melissa said annoyed.

"Oh I am sorry for bothering you then...I'll call back later" Brandon said sadly.

They both hung up and Melissa picked up on her reading from where she left off. She didn't mean to sound so harsh to Brandon, she just wanted to get her homework done. A half hour later, Melissa had finished her reading and notes. She dialed her boyfriend's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?" Brandon answered.

"Hey, I am sorry for sounding so harsh earlier. I just wanted to get all my homework done so I would have time to relax and hang out with you. My teacher also stressed me out and I wanted all my stuff for my class to be done" Melissa explained to her boyfriend.

"It's okay. I know that if I was in the same situation I would act like that too" Brandon said.

"I love you, want to have dinner tonight?" Melissa asked.

"I love you too,and I would love to" Brandon said

"Okay, meet me at my dorm at 6PM?" Melissa asked.

"Okay, I will be there. I love you, Mel" Brandon said.

"I love you too, babe. I'll see you later" Melissa said.

They hung up and Melissa flopped on her bed and smiled. Jess walked in and put her books on her desk.

"Hey, finish the homework?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. I got in a fight with Brandon, right after you left. I needed to get all my reading done and he wouldn't let me go so I got mad, but we are fine now" Melissa explained.

"At least you finished all the reading you had to do. I am sure he understood after you told him" Jess said.

"Yeah. Anyway, he wants to go out tonight want to come with?" Melissa asked.

"Are you sure?" Jess asked.

"I am sure. Just come and hang out with us. It will be fun, and Brandon won't mind" Melissa said.

Jess agreed and the two of them left the dorm and went to go meet Brandon. Mel was getting used to college life slowly but surely.


	6. The first visit

The next morning, Melissa was very excited. She was going to go home today for the weekend. Melissa packed some of her clothes and other travel items that she might need. Her cell phone rang and she looked at the caller ID, and it said Dad so she picked it up.

"Hello?" Melissa answered.

"Hey, baby girl, I am out front" Troy told his daughter.

"Okay, I'll be right there" Melissa said.

They both hung up and Mel said goodbye to Jess and left the dorm. Mel walked as fast as she could to the car. She saw her father's car and watched him get out. Troy opened his arms and Mel ran into them gripping the back of his shirt. Melissa looked up at him.

"Let's go" Mel said.

They both got in the car and Melissa started talking about how college was and dorm life.

"How's Brandon?" Troy asked Mel.

"He's good. We got into an argument on Tuesday, but we figured everything out and we are good" Melissa explained.

They drove up to the Bolton home and Mel took off running to the front door. She tried to open the door but she found that it was locked. Mel started jumping up and down, Troy started laughing at her as he unlocked the door. Mel ran in and bumped into her mother.

"Mom!" Mel yelled as she hugged her tightly.

"Hi honey, how are you?" Gabriella asked.

"I feel better now that I am home" Melissa said.

Lily walked into the kitchen and dropped her stuff.

"Your home! Your Home!" Lily said jumping into her sister's arms.

Melissa twirled her sister in her arms. Melissa placed Lily back on the floor.

"Tell me everything. Come on!" Lily said as she pulled Mel to her room and closed the door behind them.

Lily and Mel sat on Lily's bed and were talking about college.

"So, how's your roommate?" Lily asked.

"Oh, she's really nice. We went out to dinner a couple times with Brandon" Mel said.

"How's Brandon?" Lily asked.

"He's good. We got in a fight earlier in the week, but everything is fine" Mel explained.

Lily cuddled up to her sister and wrapped her arms around her. Mel put her arms around her sister.

"I love you, Lils" Melissa said.

"I love you too, Mel" Lily said.

Mel's phone rang and Mel got up quickly. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Brandon, so she picked up.

"Hey, baby" Mel answered when she picked up the phone.

"What are you doing, babe?" Brandon asked.

"Hanging out with Lily. Why, whats up?" Mel asked.

"I was just wondering if you were free, to go out but your with family so I guess you are" Brandon said.

"I'm sorry. I know we haven't spent much time together, I am just really stressed" Mel said.

"I know, but anyway, have fun with Lily, I love you" Brandon said.

"I love you too, bye" Mel said.

They both hung up and Mel looked at Lily.

"You could have gone out tonight, you know?" Lily said.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen you in what feels like forever, so I wanna hang out with you" Mel told her sister.

"Wanna cuddle and watch a movie?" Lily asked her sister.

"Sure. Let's go get mom and dad" Mel said

The Boltons spent the rest of the night relaxing and hanging out.


End file.
